Method and system for split-compiling a hybrid language program

• US 7,010,784 B1
• Filed: 09/03/1999
• Issued: 03/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cadence Design Systems Incorporated (Cadence Group)
• Original Assignee: Cadence Design Systems Incorporated (Cadence Group)
• Inventors: Sentovich, Ellen M., Lavagno, Luciano
• Primary Examiner(s): Dam, Tuan
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOW, CHIH CHING
• Application Number:
  US09/390,141
• Time in Patent Office: 2,377 Days
• Field of Search: 717/156, 717/151, 717141-143, 717/147, 717/140, 717/159, 717/138
• US Class Current: 717/140
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/41 Compilation

Abstract

A combined language-compiler that provides for the efficient compilation process of hybrid computer code written using a plurality of computer languages by splitting the hybrid code in such a way that each code statement is optimally independently compilable. The designer specifies both computation and communication between different hybrid code modules.

Claims

1. In a combined E/C (Esterel-C) language compiler product for a computer system, said combined E/C language compiler comprising an Esterel computer language, an Esterel compiler, and a C compiler, a method of compiling of an E/C source code using said combined E/C compiler product, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) parsing a plurality of statements of said E/C source code;

(b) splitting said E/C source code into a plurality of sets of code statements, each said set comprising a plurality of code statements compilable by one said compiler; and

(c) compiling each said set of code statements.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

(d) checking whether each said set of code statements satisfies the semantics of each said language.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

(e) merging each said compiled code statement into a single E/C executable program.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (b) of splitting said E/C code into said plurality of sets of code statements further comprises the steps of:

splitting said E/C code at a specification level into two different trial E/C codes, wherein said first trial E/C code includes a first plurality of E/C code modules including a first plurality of internal module computations, a first plurality of inter-module communications, and a first level of reactivity, and wherein said second trial E/C code includes a second plurality of E/C code modules including a second plurality of internal module computations, a second plurality of inter-module communications, and a second level of reactivity;

comparing said first trial E/C code with said second trial E/C code;

assessing the difference in compilation time and the difference in execution time between said two trial E/C codes; and

selecting an optimum trial E/C code.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (b) of splitting said E/C code into said plurality of sets of code statements further comprises the step of:

(b1) splitting said E/C code at a compilation level into a plurality of reactive code statements and into a plurality of non-reactive code statements, wherein each said reactive code statement is assigned to be compiled by an Esterel compiler;

and wherein each said non-reactive code statement is assigned to be compiled by said C compiler.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (b) of splitting said E/C code into said plurality of sets of code statements further comprises the step of:

(b1) using a meta-optimization loop for splitting said E/C code at a compilation level into a plurality of reactive code statements and into a plurality of non-reactive code statements, wherein each said reactive code statement is assigned to be compiled by an Esterel compiler; and

wherein each said non-reactive code statement is assigned to be compiled by said C compiler.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said step (b1) of using said meta-optimization loop for splitting said E/C code further includes the steps of:

(b1,1) splitting said E/C code into a plurality of reactive code statements and into a plurality of non-reactive code statements;

(b1,2) checking whether said splitting step (b1,1) optimizes said E/C compilation process; and

(b1,3) if said E/C compilation process is not optimized, repeating said steps (b 1,1) and (b 1,2) until said E/C compilation process is optimized.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein said step (b1) of splitting said E/C code at said compilation level into said plurality of reactive code statements and into said plurality of non-reactive code statements further includes the steps of:

(b1,1) parsing said E/C source code to create a parse tree including said E/C source code;

(b1,2) analyzing said E/C source code parse tree by traversing said parse tree and by determining for each said E/C code statement whether it is a part of an Esterel code file or a part of a C code file; and

(b1,

     3) writing said E/C source code including said Esterel file and said C file.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein said step (b1,2) of analyzing said E/C source code further includes the steps of:

placing each said E/C locally reactive code statement in said Esterel file;

placing each said E/C locally non-reactive code statement in said C file; and

globally analyzing each said non-local E/C code statement.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein said step (b1,2) of analyzing said E/C source code further includes the steps of:

placing an E/C code loop including a halting statement in said Esterel file; and

placing an E/C code loop lacking a halting statement in said C file.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein said step (b1,2) of analyzing said E/C source code further includes the step of:

placing in said Esterel file a reactive statement selected from the group consisting of;

{signal waiting, signal emission, signal testing, preemption, and concurrency}.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein said step (b1,2) of analyzing said E/C source code further includes the step of:

placing in said C file a construct defining and manipulating data type, wherein said construct is selected from the group consisting of;

{type definition, field access, and pointer access}.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (b) of splitting said E/C code into said plurality of sets of code statements further comprises the step of:

splitting said E/C code based on an implementation method.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein said step of splitting said E/C code based on said implementation method further includes the steps of:

reclassifying a reactive statement as being compilable by either said Esterel compiler or by said C compiler if said implementation method is substantially sufficient to process said reactive statement.

31. The method of claim 18, wherein said step (d) of checking whether each said compiled code statement satisfies the semantics of each said language further includes the steps of:

using said Esterel compiler to find and analyze a causality problem; and

reporting said causality problem to the user at the E/C level.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein said step of using said Esterel compiler to find and analyze said causality problem further includes the step of:

checking by said Esterel compiler whether a set of reactive code statements includes a finite state machine equivalent that can be analyzed statically.

33. The method of claim 19, wherein said step (e) of merging each said compiled code statement into said single E/C executable program further includes the step of:

merging a C-compiled code into an Esterel-compiled (E-compiled) code by calling a procedure from said E-compiled code.

34. The method of claim 33 further including the step of:

implementing said procedure call from said E-compiled code as a macro in C.

35. The method of claim 33 further including the step of:

implementing said procedure call from said E-compiled code by passing variables by reference to said procedure.

2. In a combined E/C (Esterel-C) language compiler product for a computer system, said combined E/C language compiler comprising an Esterel computer language, an Esterel compiler, and a C compiler, a method of compiling of an E/C source code using said combined E/C compiler product, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) parsing said plurality of code statements of said E/C source code into a combined representation;

(b) splitting said combined representation into a plurality of sets of E/C code statements;

(c) using at least two compilers to compile said plurality of sets of E/C code statements;

wherein each said E/C set is compilable by one said compiler; and

(d) merging each said set of compiled E/C statements into a single executable program.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said step (a) of parsing said plurality of E/C code statements into said combined representation further includes the step of:

using at least two computer languages, said Esterel computer language and said C computer language, to write said plurality of E/C source code statements.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said step (a) of parsing said plurality of E/C code statements further includes the step of:

adding a set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel await statement;

await sig;

with the ECL statement;

await(sig).

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel pausing statement selected from the group consisting of;

{await tick, and pause}

with the ECL statement;

await( ).

7. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel emit statement;

emit sig;

with the ECL statement;

emit(sig).

8. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel emit with value statement;

emit sig(val);

with the ECL statement;

emit(sig, val).

9. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel get value of signal syntax;

?sig

with the ECL syntax;

sig.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel signal testing statement;

present signal_expression then

stmt1

else

stmt2

with the ECL statement;

present (signal_expression) stmt1;

else stmt2;

.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel signal operator;

{and}

with the ECL syntax;

{&

).

12. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel signal operator;

{or}

with the ECL syntax;

{|}.

13. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel signal operator;

{not}

with the ECL syntax;

{˜

}.

14. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel abortion preemption statement;

abort

stmt1;

when signal_expression do

stmt2;

end abort

with the ECL abortion preemption statement;

do stmt1;

abort(signal_expression);

handle stmt2.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel weak abortion preemption statement;

weak abort

stmt1;

when signal_expression do

stmt2;

end

with the ECL weak abortion preemption statement;

do stmt1;

weak_abort (signal_expression);

handle stmt2.

16. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel suspension preemption statement;

suspend

stmt;

when signal_expression

with the ECL ‘

suspension preemption’

statement;

do stmt;

suspend (signal_expression);

.

17. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of adding said set of modified Esterel reactive statements into said C language further includes the step of:

replacing

the Esterel concurrency statement;

stmt1 ∥

stmt2

with the ECL concurrency statement selected from the group consisting of;

{fork

stmt1;

 

stmt2;

join; and

par stmt1;

par stmt2;

}.

36. In a combined E/C (Esterel-C) language compiler product for a computer system, a method of compiling of an E/C source source code using said combined E/C language-compiler product, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) parsing said plurality of E/C source code statements into a combined representation;

(b) splitting said combined representation into a plurality of sets of code statements, each said set comprising a plurality of code statements;

(c) compiling each said set of code statements; and

(d) merging each said compiled code statement into a single executable program.

37. In a combined E/C (Esterel-C) language compiler product for a computer system, a method of compiling an E/C source of a hybrid source code using said combined E/C compiler product, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) parsing said plurality of E/C source code statements into a combined representation;

(b) splitting said combined representation into a plurality of sets of code statements;

(c) using at least two compilers to compile said plurality of sets of code statements;

wherein each said set is compilable by one said compiler; and

(d) merging each said set of compiled statements into a single executable program.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein said step (a) of parsing said plurality of E/C source code statements further includes the step of:

using at least two computer languages to write said plurality of E/C source code statements.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein said step (b) of splitting said combined representation into said plurality of sets of code statements further comprises the steps of:

splitting said combined representation at a specification level into two different trial codes, wherein said first trial code includes a first plurality of code modules including a first plurality of internal module computations, a first plurality of inter-module communications, and a first level of reactivity, and wherein said second trial code includes a second plurality of code modules including a second plurality of internal module computations, a second plurality of inter-module communications, and a second level of reactivity;

comparing said first trial code with said second trial code;

assessing the difference in compilation time and the difference in execution time between said two trial codes; and

selecting an optimum trial code.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein said step (b) of splitting said combined representation further includes the step of:

splitting said combined representation at a compilation level into a plurality of reactive code statements and a plurality of non-reactive code statements.

41. The method of claim 37, wherein said step (b) of splitting said combined representation further comprises the step of:

splitting said combined representation based on an implementation method.

42. A combined E/C (Esterel-C) language compiler product for a computer system, comprising;

(a) a merged syntax defining a plurality of acceptable code statements;

(b) a splitter configured to split said merged syntax into a plurality of sets of code statements;

(c) a compiler configured to compile each said set of code statements; and

(d) a post-compiler level merger configured to merge each said compiled code statement into a single executable program.

43. A combined E/C Esterel-C language product for a computer system, comprising:

(a) a syntax of a an E/C language defining a plurality of acceptable code statements;

(b) a splitter configured to split said E/C code into a plurality of sets of code statements, each said set comprising a plurality of code statements, each said code statement compilable independently;

(c) a compiler configured to compile each said set of code statements;

(d) a checker configured to check whether each said compiled code statement satisfies the semantics of said E/C language; and

(e) a post-compiler level merger configured to merge each said compiled code statement into a single executable program.

44. A computer-usable apparatus useful in association with a combined E/C (Esterel-C) language compiler, said combined E/C language compiler configured to compile a plurality of code statements;

said computer-usable apparatus including computer-readable code instructions configured to cause said combined E/C language compiler to execute the steps of;

(a) defining a plurality of acceptable statements of a combined E/C code;

(b) splitting said combined E/C code into a plurality of sets of code statements, each said set comprising a plurality of code statements compilable independently;

(c) compiling each said set of code statements; and

(d) merging each said compiled code statement into a single executable program.

45. A computer-readable code embedded in a storage medium, wherein

said computer readable code is manipulated by a combined language compiler, combined E/C (Esterel-C) language compiler configured to compile a plurality of code statements written using a plurality of computer languages, said combined language compiler said configured to execute the steps of:

(a) accepting a combined code comprising a plurality of code statements;

(b) splitting said combined E/C code into a plurality of sets of code statements, each said set comprising a plurality of independently compilable code statements;

(c) compiling each said set of code statements; and

(d) merging each said compiled code statement into a single executable program.

46. A computer-readable code embedded in a storage medium, wherein

said computer readable code is manipulated by a combined Esterel-C (E/C) language language compiler, said combined E/C language compiler comprising an E/C language, an Esterel compiler, and a C compiler, said combined E/C language compiler configured to compile a plurality of code statements written using said E/C language, said combined E/C language compiler configured to execute the steps of:

(a) accepting a plurality of statements of an E/C source code;

(b) splitting said E/C source code into a plurality of sets of code statements, each said set comprising a plurality of independently compilable code statements;

(c) compiling each said set of code statements;

(d) checking whether each said compiled code statement satisfies the semantics of each said language; and

(e) merging each said compiled code statement into a single E/C executable program.